'Essential' workers answer Sandy's call

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2012 at 6:00 AM

When a storm strikes, closing schools and office buildings, and government officials advise residents to remain home, there are people that still go to work. They aren't the glory seekers or the corporate climbers; they are the people in the bucket trucks who work with electricity in the rain to restore power; they are the people in rain slickers driving pickup trucks to move tree limbs to the side of the road; they are the people who come to your house when the emergency hits your home.

By Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When a storm strikes, closing schools and office buildings, and government officials advise residents to remain home, there are people that still go to work.

They aren't the glory seekers or the corporate climbers; they are the people in the bucket trucks who work with electricity in the rain to restore power; they are the people in rain slickers driving pickup trucks to move tree limbs to the side of the road; they are the people who come to your house when the emergency hits your home.

They are the “essential employees” who keep communities and municipalities running when storms like Hurricane Sandy bear down — the gas station attendant who stays open for residents to top off their tanks, the diner owner who keeps the coffee perked, the nurse who monitors patients at the local hospital, the tow-truck driver who clears the car that didn't make it through the flooded street, and the public works employee who is cleaning drains and roadsides.

In Westboro, seven police officers were on the road Monday, responding to reports of fallen trees and, as the storm bore down, were involved in a foot chase on Route 9, capturing a man suspected of starting a fire at a local business.

In the morning, the weaker trees were falling, and the first sizable tree that fell was on Nourse Street, blocking the road. Police Chief Alan Gordon was one of two officers on the scene to detour traffic.

“You could see and feel the strong bands of rain as they came through. You could hear the trees snapping in the woods,” Chief Gordon said. “Fifty yards away from me, another tree fell and landed across a driveway. It got progressively worse throughout the afternoon.”

The storm brought a surge of emergency calls to the police station, with Chief Gordon estimating twice the normal volume of calls were received. There were power outages reported to the police station, a resident calling for assistance with an aluminum shed that blew off his property and was blocking the road. There were ambulance calls, and calls to check on businesses without power to make sure there were no break-ins.

The storm's impact on Westboro was monitored in an Emergency Operations Center in a conference room in the fire station — a small room snaked with wires, conference tables lined with laptops, and televisions to monitor the storm locally and regionally.

In the EOC, a group of 15 officials — from police, fire, DPW, administration, finance and logistics — tracked the storm and made sure every incident was reconciled and trouble spots were prioritized such as restoring power to a sewer pump station, or clearing a live wire from a road that children walk on to school, or clearing main streets of fallen limbs and branches. Regular briefings were held with town employees working in the midst of the storm.

The EOC was set up on Sunday, staffed beginning at 8 a.m. Monday and was demobilized by yesterday afternoon.

“We identify immediately that the impact this has on our families, and how grateful we are for our families that allow us to do the work that we do,” said Westboro Fire Lt. Brian Roberts, manager of the EOC.

“It is difficult,” Chief Gordon said. “The first tree we had down brought down the electrical wires in front of my lieutenant's house. We let him go home, he hooked a generator up to his house to protect his family. But you are always thinking about your family and checking it. My home was damaged — I lost a section of vinyl fence, but you deal with it after the story. You worry about your family, but it's the public we wanted to serve.”

Keith Cappoli of Millbury drives a heavy-duty tow truck for DiRenzo Towing in Millbury, and spent the day responding to storm-related calls across Massachusetts. The company had a full staff of about 15 on duty during the storm. Mr. Cappoli was in Webster pulling a car out from under a tree; he was in Charlton towing a bucket truck that broke down; and he was elsewhere in the region clearing cars that got flooded or were involved in an accident.

Mr. Cappoli said part of the challenge of working in natural disasters is contending with other vehicles and drivers who don't realize heavy trucks don't drive like a Honda Civic.

“I was in Charlton towing a bucket truck and had to back down the street because a tree fell blocking the road I had just driven over 20 minutes before,” Mr. Cappoli said. “That the biggest thing — driving down those back roads, worrying about a tree falling on you. Everything takes longer in a storm. You don't want to tell someone that your ETA is going to be a little longer, but you need to be safe, too.

“I have two young children at home, and my family is always on my mind,” Mr. Cappoli said.

Ahmed Hamza, manager of Uxbridge Gas, kept his station on Route 122 in Uxbridge open until 3 p.m. Monday, when he lost power and the ability to pump gas.

“In the first part of the day, it was really nothing, but then it got worse in the afternoon, I kept calling my family every half-hour,” Mr. Hamza said of his wife and two children — ages 14 months and 5 years old.

After his station closed, he spent the rest of the day with his family, monitoring the news, and grateful that the damage was minimal. He returned to the station later in the evening to find the power had been restored, and he was able to reopen yesterday.

“Thank God we didn't have any major damage, like some other places.”

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